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  #511  
Old Tue 18 February 2014, 12:37
dbinokc
Just call me: DB #118
 
Oklahoma
United States of America
Very nice. I was thinking about doing similar Having the vacuum duct surround the spindle rather than having something hanging off the side would seem to be a better option. Not only for cooling, but dust capture.
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  #512  
Old Wed 19 February 2014, 03:44
Robert M
Just call me: Robert
 
Lac-Brome, Qc
Canada
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Hey Alan....glad to see your beast !
Very interesting "new" design !.....a 1st like this & Look quite rugged !!
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  #513  
Old Tue 18 March 2014, 15:19
Alan_c
Just call me: Alan (#11)
 
Cape Town (Western Cape)
South Africa
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Another clamping challenge.

I was recently contacted by one of my regular customers who runs a sawmill and furniture manufacturing operation (he actually reminds me of one of the Baggins clan - long blonde dreadlocks and barefoot even in the timber yard in-between the logs and saw milling machines ) One of his clients wants to send out wedding reminders with the details engraved on small log rounds.

disk with text.jpg

The only problem is that they are not all flat and co-planar so clamping them to the table doesnt work and to mill them all parallel would be just too tricky as holding them would be extremely challenging and time consuming.

After giving it a few days thought, I came up with this idea of clamping the rounds UP to a reference surface so that the surface to be engraved would be relatively flat.

jig wide.jpg

jig with disk.jpg

The table has a hole cut in it to allow the cutter to get to the job and cam clamps to hold the disks tightly.

clamp handle.jpg

The cam clamps were another challenge as nobody in this country has even heard of them let alone stock them and getting them from Rockler or such like was just plain ridiculous, I think the shipping was more than the clamps So with a little lateral thinking I went to one of the local specialist bicycle shops and found a seat clamp assembly that could be stripped out for the cam mechanism, still quite pricey for what it is but then again anything health and fitness related I find to be overpriced

jig low.jpg

underneath the jig are two steel arms that clamp the disk, the ends of the arms have sticky abrasive attached.

jig low with disk.jpg

showing the disk clamped, there is also a strip of abrasive around the hole on the bottom.

The whole jig is fixed to a board that I can clamp and reference against my table stops.
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  #514  
Old Tue 18 March 2014, 15:41
pblackburn
Just call me: Pete #98
 
South-Central Pennsylvania
United States of America
Good follow-through from concept to application.

Do you find any vibration is transferred to the holding jig that would inadvertently affect cut quality? The reason I ask is the supporting blocks look parallel and not tapered in on one end to resist side movement.
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  #515  
Old Tue 18 March 2014, 15:49
danilom
Just call me: Danilo #64
 
Novi Sad
Serbia
Best thing since the invention of the wheel !

great clamping method
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  #516  
Old Tue 18 March 2014, 16:01
Alan_c
Just call me: Alan (#11)
 
Cape Town (Western Cape)
South Africa
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There are very light cutting forces at work here, depth of cut with a 60 deg v-cutter is max 0.9mm. If I hold my hand under the disk while its being machined I am just about able to feel that the cutter is actually cutting the surface.
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  #517  
Old Tue 18 March 2014, 17:04
pblackburn
Just call me: Pete #98
 
South-Central Pennsylvania
United States of America
I just now was showing this to my boys and did not realize how small they were. Like I said, good concept, follow through and final application. Well done.
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  #518  
Old Tue 18 March 2014, 18:56
darren salyer
Just call me: Darren #101
 
Wentzville mo
United States of America
OK, that's just plain genius!!!
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  #519  
Old Wed 19 March 2014, 05:31
hennie
Just call me: Hennie #23
 
Roodepoort JHB
South Africa
Thats a dam good idea Alan. Must be something in the water
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  #520  
Old Wed 19 March 2014, 05:36
racedirector
Just call me: Bruce #122
 
New South Wales
Australia
Don't ya just love it when a plan comes together, great job!
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  #521  
Old Thu 20 March 2014, 03:00
Tom Ayres
Just call me: Tom #117
 
Bassett (VA)
United States of America
Smart thinking, I may have to borrow this idea.
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  #522  
Old Wed 09 April 2014, 13:17
Alan_c
Just call me: Alan (#11)
 
Cape Town (Western Cape)
South Africa
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So last night I heard about an auction happening today of "diy" tools and equipment and after looking over their web page I came across this:

regen blower.jpg

Doesnt look DIY now does it, snagged it for R3700.00 (about $340) - 5.5Kw motor 380V 3 phase, 30 kpa, (I think its 400m3 /hour)

now to work out how to rig up a vacuum table

Oh and for good measure, I got this one too, less than 1 Kw but should be good for vacuum bagging or such like (only paid R650.00 for it - $59) single phase unit, very good German quality whereas the big one is Chinese.

small regen blower.jpg
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  #523  
Old Wed 09 April 2014, 14:08
darren salyer
Just call me: Darren #101
 
Wentzville mo
United States of America
Sweeeeet!!
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  #524  
Old Wed 09 April 2014, 14:09
Tom Ayres
Just call me: Tom #117
 
Bassett (VA)
United States of America
It seems you ran across a very good deal, cool! Rub some of that good luck off on me
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  #525  
Old Wed 09 April 2014, 18:00
sailfl
Just call me: Nils #12
 
Winter Park, FL
United States of America
Nice Alan.
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  #526  
Old Thu 10 April 2014, 02:39
KenC
Just call me: Ken
 
Klang
Malaysia
The 5.5Kw looks suitable for vacuum holddown foir MM
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  #527  
Old Thu 10 April 2014, 05:59
Alan_c
Just call me: Alan (#11)
 
Cape Town (Western Cape)
South Africa
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I certainly hope so Ken, after doing some reading I was starting to be concerned that it may not be big enough...
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  #528  
Old Fri 11 April 2014, 02:11
KenC
Just call me: Ken
 
Klang
Malaysia
For the price, no harm trying.... I doesn't cost a limp even if it doesn't work perfectly.
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  #529  
Old Sat 08 November 2014, 14:36
Alan_c
Just call me: Alan (#11)
 
Cape Town (Western Cape)
South Africa
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Vacuum pump and other stories...

I have also been playing with physics and vacuums recently. Built myself a vacuum generator/pump following Joe's woodworker plans but replaced the PVC tubes with a recycled truck vacuum brake vessel.

Vacuum generator.jpg
Looks a little bit like a pig, so have named it "varkie" which is Afrikaans for little pig.

table tops.jpg
The main reason I needed it was for this job, torsion box table tops, 24x, 1,8m x 600mm. There is now ways I would have been able to do this without the vacuum bags. Not enough space or budget for a full size press, and when I'm done it packs away in a drawer.

glue squeeze out.jpg
At only half setting, -50 Kpa (about 15 inches of mercury) there was more than enough pressure to get squeeze out all around.

On a more CNC related note I received my "standby" spindle from China this week. Quite a bit pricier than the first one as the Rand has fallen even further..again and the shipping has jumped up a lot. The one on the machine is starting to make a bit of a noise so want to be prepared with a standby in case I have to do a bearing service/upgrade and cant afford to have the machine down for any length of time.
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  #530  
Old Sat 08 November 2014, 14:40
pblackburn
Just call me: Pete #98
 
South-Central Pennsylvania
United States of America
Good idea on both counts. The vacuum and the spindle. The spindle bearing replacement is not that complicated but finding reasonably priced bearings can be.
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  #531  
Old Sun 09 November 2014, 07:26
darren salyer
Just call me: Darren #101
 
Wentzville mo
United States of America
Awesome work, Alan. How much vacuum are you using?
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  #532  
Old Sun 09 November 2014, 08:26
Tom Ayres
Just call me: Tom #117
 
Bassett (VA)
United States of America
He stated he was running about 15 inches of mercury which is about where I run (15-19)
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  #533  
Old Sun 09 November 2014, 08:44
darren salyer
Just call me: Darren #101
 
Wentzville mo
United States of America
Aha. Good eye. I completely missed that.
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  #534  
Old Sun 09 November 2014, 09:24
servant74
Just call me: Jack
 
Nashville (Tennessee)
United States of America
And for those of us that think in other units, 15" Hg is about 7.5 PSI, 0.5 atmospheres, or 51000 paschals, or 204 inches of water. -- these are not exact, but nice rough guesstimates. This is just numbers to help others feel how much pressure it really is being applied. I know looking these up helped me, I thought others might be interested.
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  #535  
Old Sun 09 November 2014, 09:44
Alan_c
Just call me: Alan (#11)
 
Cape Town (Western Cape)
South Africa
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Pay attention young Salyer, no sleeping in class please!
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  #536  
Old Sun 09 November 2014, 09:52
pblackburn
Just call me: Pete #98
 
South-Central Pennsylvania
United States of America
For people not familiar with vacuum, a conversion table
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  #537  
Old Fri 21 November 2014, 10:04
Alan_c
Just call me: Alan (#11)
 
Cape Town (Western Cape)
South Africa
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Maple Clock

I have a mate with a 60th birthday coming up next week and he is seriously into his rugby (you know that game that looks similar to US football but without the namby pamby body armour and with real blood ) so I decided to make him a clock out of maple with the logos of our local team.

The front is domed to reduce the thickness at the edges to make it less clunky and to try resemble a rugby ball.

Rough machining with a 6mm cutter was 25 min, final machining with a 6mm ball nose, 0.4mm step over was 2 hours. Logos, numbers and stitch line engrave with a 60 deg cutter was about 8 min, center drill and cut out was about 2 min. The rebate and hanger slot on the back was about 10 min. (this was done first, along with registration holes in the waste area for dowels so that when I flipped it over the rebate would be in the right place - matching registration holes in the table surface as well)

The ball nose left quite a rough surface on the maple but it did note take long with 150 grit paper on the orbital sander to smooth it out. In anticipation of the sanding I set the start depth of the engraving 0.25 mm into the surface when projecting the toolpath onto the 3D model, that ensured that I did not lose the fine detail when sanding.


clock front.jpg
Width 500mm, height 300mm, thickness 30mm (I don't think the wavy hands work, but they are the only ones I had on hand right now, will take a ride into cape Town next week and get something more appropriate)

clock oblique.jpg
trying to show the domed front...

clock side.jpg
maybe easier to see from this angle.

clock back.jpg
Hanging slot on the back and recess for the mechanism (the steps are to make it easier to adjust and change battery)

glass hanger.jpg
Its his wife's birthday as well so made them a personalised wine glass hanger.

I was originally planning to darken the text with some burnt umber acrylic paint but am now in two minds as I think the slightly darker lacquer in the endgrain of the engraving shows the text easily enough - any opinions?

Last edited by Alan_c; Fri 21 November 2014 at 10:10..
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  #538  
Old Fri 21 November 2014, 12:19
rcboats1
Just call me: Kelly
 
Everett (WA)
United States of America
Very nice work Alan. I personally like the wine glass hanger the way it is, but either way it is a great gift.
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  #539  
Old Fri 21 November 2014, 14:17
Robert M
Just call me: Robert
 
Lac-Brome, Qc
Canada
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Very handsome Alan....nothing to by shy either
In my opinion, as a solid wood guy, I ‘m all in favour to leave the maple in its natural state as you did, It make the text highlighted in a nice contrast manner.
Great to have you as a buddy
Love it !
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  #540  
Old Fri 21 November 2014, 18:04
lonestaral
Just call me: Al #114
 
Isarn
Thailand
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As a fan of the gentleman's game, well done with the clock.
Crisp and clean.
I will put it on my to do list.
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